Ailanthus Bowl, 16" X 4"

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I got an Ailanthus log several years ago, and made a number of bowls from it, a favorite one we had on our kitchen table for a while, till a visitor to our house purchased it to take to Israel as a wedding gift, I had a smaller but very similar one still in my drying cabin, so decided to pull that one out and finish it, so here's the bowl, 16" X 4" with a pure tung-oil finish and buffed.
Any and all comments appreciated :D

[Dewey Torres]

Doesn't appear to be a whole lot of room for improvement. Very nice photography as well.:) Thanks for sharing.

[Hilel Salomon]

Leo,

This piece and the one you used to demonstrate the white glue/water treatment are outstanding. Thanks for sharing these with us.
Regards, Hilel.

[Matt Hutchinson]

That's a very nice bowl! Nice form and finish. Also, I really like how it has an almost cherry color, but has grain kinda like ash. What more commonly known tree is this species related to? Looking forward to more!

Hutch

[Doug Miller]

One of my favorite shapes to turn. I like that you kept the foot small and really let the grain show in that huge bell. What a great piece.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful bowl Leo! Good job on centering the grain! I agree with Dewey - very nice photos! Allows us to appreciate your art! Very nice work Leo! Looking forward to seeing more!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beautiful bowl Leo. The color and grain of the wood is really nice. Great finish and pic's.

[Richard Madison]

Beautiful piece, Leo. That smooth, continuously varying curvature can be very difficult for some of us to achieve. Just for fun would like to see how the piece looks against a uniform dark background.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Leo,

That is stunning. While I am not a fan of that form, when you nail like you did, I can't help but admire it. The wood and the finished you selected for it....What a perfect match! Well done Sir!

[Bob Hamilton]

Hi, Leo:
Great looking bowl! I had a co-worker that had an ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) come down in his back yard in Sarnia back in June and picked up a couple of logs. The rough outs are drying now. I hope they come out looking half as nice as yours! :)

Bob

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks you all for looking and taking the time to comment :D

Matt it is an introduced species, (native to China) used as an ornamental tree, and for it's ability to withstand urban pollution, called also Chinese sumac for the look of it's leaves, and goes also under the monicker of "Tree of heaven", don't ask me why :confused:

Hi Bob, thanks, it is kind of a funny wood, but does look good and finishes well, I did have a few pieces that had some collapse in the wood when drying, not splitting but looking like you would see when you would push a pointy object into a pear or apple and break the skin, just looks like a small collapse of the wood to me, I'd never seen that before, funny and smelly wood, but worth the work IMO :D.

[Mike Minto]

i had never heard of this wood before. very nice shape, the growth rings are so distinct and wonderful to look at. thanks for sharing your photos. mike